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Studious university student Zo has a massive crush on his fellow debate club member, Nita, and his friend gives him the weird idea to ask Nita’s ex-boyfriend, Joke, for dating advice. Joke overhears the conversation and voluntarily offers to help Zo win the popular girl’s heart. Although Zo reluctantly accepts the assistance, Joke has his own hidden agenda for the kind gesture.
Directed by Tee Bundit Sintanaparadee (Step by Step), the 2023 Thai series “Hidden Agenda” spans 12 episodes and stars Joong Archen Aydin and Dunk Natachai Boonprasert as leads Joke and Zo respectively. Jamie Juthapich Indrajundra is Nita, who has zero personality and is only there in the series to push the Joke-Zo story forward. Aou Thanaboon Kiatniran plays Joke’s cousin Jeng, who is dating Zo’s favorite junior Pok (Boom Tharatorn Jantharaworakarn) but their relationship is a secret because Jeng is not out yet.
The first four episodes unfold like a fun college romance where the nerdy Zo tries to figure out what to do with Nita. However, he ends up getting caught up in Joke’s web as the latter goes all out to help him undergo a makeover and build confidence. But Dunk Natachai Booprasert is such a good-looking person that putting him in spectacles and giving him a mildly bad hairstyle isn’t enough to make him look unattractive, so the “makeover” feels a little pointless. “Hidden Agenda” marks Dunk’s second major role; he made his lead role debut with GMMTV’s 2022 series “Star and Sky: Star in My Mind”, where he was first paired with Joong Archen Aydin. While the two actors do look great together, it’s is largely due to their inherent good looks. Dunk, in the role of Zo, struggles with emotional scenes and remains quite awkward. Joong on the other hand seems to be playing the same kind of roles, or at least his performance feels the same as “Star in My Mind” and “The Warp Effect”. Aou Thanaboon is a lot more versatile and stands out even in his smaller supporting roles – he was last seen as the out-and-proud gay activist in “Be My Favorite”, while his character Jeng is in the closet in this series. The sub-plot about Jeng and Pok had a lot more meat than the primary plot and Aou and Boom display great onscreen chemistry as a young queer couple dealing with relationship challenges.
One of the major plot elements of “Hidden Agenda” is the debate club activities. Zo takes debating seriously and hopes to win a major competition that could earn him a scholarship abroad. But the debates were uneventful, passionless, with extremely boring generic topics like “Knowledge Vs Money”. Our high school debate contests had more complex and challenging themes than these university events. If you are interested in watching a debate themed romance, watch the 2018 Netflix film “Candy Jar”, which is set in high school by the way.
I stopped watching “Hidden Agenda” after episode nine and resumed the series after three weeks just to be able to write an objective review. The last few episodes were as boring as I expected them to be, with forced family conflicts about how both Joke and Zo feel under-appreciated by their families. Magically enough, the college students are able to resolve their issues with their parents and it just didn’t feel realistic, sincere or necessary for a college romance.
“Hidden Agenda” is one of those GMMTV shows that should’ve been wrapped up in eight episodes, but is boringly stretched forward with unrealistic or mundane plot twists. And I will take every opportunity to mention that their series “Moonlight Chicken” deserved more episodes. Regardless of the bland plot, “Hidden Agenda” might appeal to viewers who don’t mind watching shows just for the pretty protagonists and some cute moments.
You can stream “Hidden Agenda” on YouTube.
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